A long weekend adds Gjirokaster to the Tirana-Berat plan above: one more UNESCO hill town, one more Cold War bunker, still zero coastline. Don’t try to squeeze in Saranda or the Riviera on top of this, that’s the mistake nearly every rushed three-day itinerary makes. Pay in lek (ALL), not euros, and rent a car; Tirana International Airport (TIA) remains Albania’s only real air gateway in 2026, and there is no useful rail link between any of these three towns.

A weekend in Albania is Tirana plus one deliberate day trip to Berat, and this itinerary won’t pretend it’s more than that. Skip the queue at Bunk’Art 2 near Skanderbeg Square and head instead for Bunk’Art 1 on the Linza hillside, the bigger of Enver Hoxha’s two Cold War bunker museums and the one most two-day visitors never find. Pay in lek (ALL), not euros, since businesses that quote euro prices round the conversion roughly 5% in their favor.

Four days pushes the interior loop all the way to the coast for one day: Tirana, Berat, Gjirokaster, then Saranda’s Butrint ruins and the Blue Eye spring before a long drive back. It is not the Riviera proper, that needs a fifth day at minimum, but four days is enough to see genuinely old stone alongside genuinely blue water. Pay in lek (ALL), not euros, and rent a car at Tirana International Airport (TIA), Albania’s only working air gateway in 2026.

Five days is the shortest window where the Albanian Riviera genuinely fits: Tirana, Berat, Gjirokaster, a Saranda base for Butrint and the Blue Eye, then a Riviera drive-by past Himare’s overlooked Ottoman-era fortress before the Llogara Pass carries you back to Tirana. The last day is long, plan for it. Pay in lek (ALL), not euros, and rent a car; Tirana International Airport (TIA) is Albania’s only working air gateway in 2026.

Six days buys back the rushed final day of the 5-day version: the same interior-to-coast loop, Tirana, Berat, Gjirokaster, Saranda, Himare, but the Llogara Pass and the drive home get their own day instead of getting stacked onto the Riviera stop. Pay in lek (ALL), not euros, and rent a car; Tirana International Airport (TIA) is Albania’s only working air gateway in 2026, and there is no useful rail link anywhere on this route.

Seven days runs the full interior-to-coast loop without every day being a driving day: Tirana, Berat, Gjirokaster, Saranda, and two Riviera towns instead of one rushed stop. It is still not enough to also add the Accursed Mountains and the Komani Lake ferry in the north, and this itinerary won’t pretend otherwise, that pairing deserves its own 3 to 4 day trip from Shkoder. Pay in lek (ALL), not euros, and rent a car; Tirana International Airport (TIA) is Albania’s only working air gateway in 2026.